Ready, Set, Go!

HELLOOOOO everyone! 
It has been quite a while since my last blog and MAN haave a lot of things happened! 

Last time I wrote it was finals time, and I am pleased to announce that I survived them!  It was tough to focus in the end because I just wanted to go home and enjoy my break, but I pushed through!  Mercyhurst is really great at finals time because the library is open for extended hours and the Student Government holds fun little study breaks (AKA FREE FOOD) for you to go and relax and take a breather just when you feel like your head might explode.  There is also a little section in the library where you can color pictures to help de-stress and re-focus.  It's cute and fun!

After finals were over, I went home for about 10 days to relax.  I had an AMAZING break full of fun, family, friends, and food (alliteration! haha).  I really really enjoyed my time away from having to worry about papers, due dates, meetings, and responsibilities.  I love Mercyhurst, but there is definitely nothing like being home!  But, of course not everything lasts and I find myself hitting the ground running now that I am back!

Although I had a very enjoyable break, the Mercyhurst community has suffered quite a tragedy.  On Friday, November 19th, a fellow student of mine, Jenni-Lyn Watson, went missing from her home and her body was found a week later.  It is a horrible and indescribable event and I cannot realy wrap my mind around it.  Even though I never knew her personally, it struck close because shewas the same age as me, and she will never get the chance to live out her dreams.  Even though it was a horrible thing, Mercyhurst has really responded in a great way.  They kept the student body informed on the situation regularly through email, and has held prayer services for her.  Last night, they also held a beautiful memorial mass in Christ the King Chapel.  I did not attend but my roommate that did told me it was a wonderful tribute to her too-short life.

Even though I never knew Jenni-Lyn, it is nice to know that the school cares so much about their students.  It is a definite advantage to going to a small school.  They really care about each and every individual that sets foot here and when tragedies occur, it truly brings the campus together as a family.

Although life has been very unfair lately, we must continue to move forward with winter term.  Everyone just had to jump right back into life here.  I had my first class today and so far it seems like it will be an excellent term.  Hopefully this term will improve from here and turn out better than every other term!  Plus,  I LOVEEEEE Christmas time!

FINALS, finally!

Helloooo future Lakers!

So Fall Term 2010 is FINALLY coming to an end!  This has been probably one of the busiest and most stressful terms of my college career and I couldn't be more happy to put it behind me!  Today was the last day of regular classes and it was an amazing feeling leaving classes knowing I am just a few exams away from a lovely Thanksgiving break at home with my family.

Finals are never fun, but this year we get a three day weekend for maximum study time.  I usually don't use all that time for studying (I HATE studying...don't you??) but it is definitely nice to know that I have so much time to go over all my notes and readings to prepare for the exams that will take place on the following Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.  I just can't wait for them to be over, though!

This weekend is mostly going to be about studying, but tomorrow I do have a very fun activity.  I am in charge of the decorations committee for an event we host in December called Christmas on Campus, and tomorrow is the first day we will begin decorating the student union with Christmas decorations!  Holiday time is my favorite time of the year and it makes me SO EXCITED to know that we are just around the corner from lights, carols, busy shopping, presents, and cookies! 

Just a few finals and I can officially being the holiday season, but a little secret is that my roommates and I have already started watching Christmas movies! :)  It may be a little early but its a really nice mental break from all the hustle and bustle, paper writing, and studying that typically comes with the end of the term.  I know I haven't done much fun stuff since my last post, but I am SURE that after finals, my life is going to be very exciting!

Happy studying, and Merry Thanksgiving!

A wonderful, wonderful Halloween weekend!

Yummy desserts!

This past weekend was definitely one of my favorite so far this year!  It all started on Thursday evening when Egan Cafeteria had its special Halloween dinner.  Everything was super decorated and spooky looking, and the food was spooky, too!  They served things like mummies on a stick (hot dogs wrapped in croissants), bat wings (chicken wings), and other creepy sounding food that was actually a delicious treat!  There was also a fullll array of really yummy themed desserts!  (see picture!)

My Roomies!

Friday night, my roommate turned 21 at midnight, so we had a fun get-together/game night at our townhouse.  All of our close friends came to celebrate with us and we played Apples to Apples and Jungle Speed (if you haven't played or heard of these games, PLAY THEM because they are VERY VERY funn!)  We decorated our living room with birthday signs and one of the signs we bought was spelled wrong!  It said "HAPPY IBRTHDAY"!  At exactly midnight, we all sang my roommate happy birthday and her parents came over to bring her 21 balloons!  That's a lot of balloons at once!  Then, she had her first drink ever and we all had a really fun night with our good friends.

Saturday was when most of Mercyhurst celebrated the wonderful holiday of Halloween.  This year I didn't really do much for the holiday because my roommates and I all had a lot of homework and we really tired.  But, I did dress up (I was a cheetah, RAWR!) and we just hung out at my house and watched some movies.



A bunch of my friends...and 21 balloons



After my busy and fun-filled weekend, I spent alllllllll of Sunday writing my last huge paper of the term and Monday night I had my first cheerleading practice.  I am going to be sore for a veryyyyy longggggg timeeee!  Not to mention bruised!

But now that the term is winding down to it's last week  and a half (thank goodness!) everyone is busy preparing for final papers, projects, and exams.  The weather is also getting a little colder so bundling up is a necessity!  Hopefully it doesn't start snowing soon!  I will keep you posted :).

A fun but relaxing weekend

This weekend was a good time to spend some time with some friends, catch up on some sleep, and work through my stack of homework!

Friday night, one of my roommates and I went to the brandddd spankin' new Chipotle that finally opened in Erie!  For all of you who come from areas that have Chipotle, you can only imagine how much of a struggle it was to survive two whole years of college without one in Erie!  Luckily, though, someone finally figured it out and opened one here!  It was very delicious and definitely worth waiting in the line that wrapped around the entire restaurant!

My new friend!

After that, we went to Millcreek Mall just down the street and played with the puppies at the pet store!  This is an activity that almost all Mercyhurst students will probably do at some point while they go to school here.  They are SOOOOOO adorable and fun and gives you a little slice of puppy love when you miss your family pet at home.  The only bad part is that it is SOOOO HARDDDD to send them back in the cage when you leave!  I hate that fact that I can't take them all home with me!



sorry, this is blurry!



Saturday was an Open House on campus so I gave a tour for Ambassadors.  Lots of prospective students came to check out the campus and see all the awesome things that Mercyhurst has to offer.  And after the Open House, I spent the rest of the day being a lazy bum and catching a little R and R.  Sometimes you just need one of those days!  That night was a Mercyhurst tradition called "Haunted Hurst".  I didn't go this year but it is a reallyyyy cool event!  You may not know this, but our campus is known for being haunted, so ambassadors take groups of students on a haunted tour throughout campus and you get to experience haunted house-style fright right here on our own campus!  I  usually get really scared, even though I know the ghosts are my fellow students!  I heard it went really really well this year, even though I didn't go!



The WHOLE gang!



On Sunday, we had a social event for Ambassadors!  We went bowling at a local bowling alley and it was SOOOO fun!  As you can see by the pictures, lots of people participated.  We even had a contest for what team got the best score.  I, being the super sporty and coordinated person that I am (not), got the worst score on my team :(.  But it was ok because we still ended up with third place overall and I had fun anyway!



This week is a veryyyyy busy week full of meetings, paper-writing, and preparations for Halloween!  I can't wait for all the things that are coming up!

I'm SO EXCITEDDDD!

I just had one of the most exciting things happen to me in a really long time!  Earlier tonight, I tried out for Laker cheerleading (after not cheering for about THREEE YEARS!)  And guess what...I MADE IT!  I am now officially a cheerleader for 2010-11 Mercyhurst Basketball season!!!!  I am sooooo excited!

Sports at Mercyhurst are HUGE.  We have 24 sports teams (that is A LOT for a school our size!), so basically where ever you go on campus, you will probably find someone that plays some kind of sport.  We have just about every sport you can think of, everything from basketball and football to field hockey, lacrosse, and water polo.  And we are a Division II school (except for hockey, that's Division I) so the games are really fun to go to!  Plus, they are free for students to get in!

I have been to a few different sports games, like football, basketball, and hockey.  Our teams are usually fairly good, so who doesn't enjoy seeing a winning game??  And now I get to cheer for them! 

We also have a Laker Spirit Club, which is really cool because they give out free stuff all the time.  You can get tshirts, clappers, cowbells, you name it!  Anyone can be involved and they just get together and support the awesome Lakers at games every week!

I'm gonna go bask in my excited-ness about being a cheerleader again, so until next time!

Fall break!

Hello again! 
It's been a a little while since I have posted because I have been SO very busy!  Last week I studied reallyyyyyyyy hard for midterms and then it was fall break!  And right now I technically don't have time to be doing this, but I needed a little mental break from my paper writing...lol.

But, I had a really amazing, entirely too short fall break!  It's a really nice break because it really splits up the term and gives my brain a chance to recooperate after midterms.  This break was especially good because I spent it visiting my boyfriend at his school.  We had a lot of fun and I got to spend the silly Hallmark holiday of Sweetest Day with him!  He took me out to dinner :).

There are a lot of really really fun ways you can spend your fall break.  Some students just go home, but others choose to use this long weekend as a time to take a roadtrip somewhere fun with friends.  My freshman year a few friends and I stayed at my house is Bay Village and spent a day at Cedar Point for Halloweekends.  And last year, my friend from Oklahoma (couldn't go home because it was so far for just a weekend) came to my house and we spent some quality time at home.  I was a little sad to see break end this year but luckily the end of break means there are only 4 more weeks left in this term!  And then it's holiday time!

Here on campus everyone is starting to get ready for Halloween!  I LOVE THIS HOLIDAY!  Costumes, candy, sillyness, it just couldn't be more fun!  My roomies and I have been planning costumes and weekend plans today and it has just gotten me so excited for what's to come!  Hopefully it's a good one this year!

Well...I'm going back to paper-writing, so until we meet again!

Study, Study, Study: Midterms have arrived!

Sooo, as we go through a long period of endless raining, we are also going through the wonderful time that is midterms.  Everyone on campus is studying to take what are usually the first tests of the year and it is certainly a very tense time.  However, even though I seem to be doing more school work lately than fun, midterms also means that this term is already halfway over! 

This wonderfullllllll thought is due to the awesome Mercyhurst trimester system.  A lot of people outside of Mercyworld hear the word "trimester" and think, "What on Earth is that??"  It is very rare nowadays, especially with most schools moving into a semester system.  But, let me tell you, trimesters are the way to go!  They are a lot like quarters in that we have three 10-week terms every year.  Each term we take 3-4 classes. 

This is really nice because it means at any certain time you only have 3-4 classes worth of homework.  At semester schools, you could have to do 8 classes worth of homework at once!  That's a lottttt of reading and papers!  It's also really convenient because if there happens to be a class that you hate (there is no doubt you will have a few of those), that class will be over really soon.  I love the fast pace and the fact that we constantly change scenery throughout the year.  You get to meet three sets of friends in class every year, plus we get really looooong breaks between terms that other schools don't get!

So basically, even though midterms are stressinggggg me out right now, the trimester system is totally worth the stress at the end of the day!  Just another one of the many reasons that Mercyhurst is such an awesome school to choose!